Greenwich chiefs criticised for flogging off former library for £18million to church whose leaders dub homosexuality “evil”

By Kiro Evans, local democracy reporter

Town hall leaders have been slammed for selling a library to a church which dubs homosexuality as “a sin”.

Greenwich Council is under fire after it emerged it sold the former East Greenwich Library to the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

Reports from earlier this week revealed more details behind the £1.8m sale in 2019, which has also been met with criticism as not being good value for money.

But there has also been concern about the Christian church’s LGBT+ views, with reports that Nigeria-based pastor and General Overseer of RCCG Enoch Adeboye has previously called homosexuality “evil”.

Last year, he also tweeted advice to women which included: “No matter how educated or successful you are, your husband is your head and you must regard him as such at all times.

“It is a terrible thing for a husband to feel his wife is his head. Many men are misbehaving in their marriages simply because they want to establish that they are the head of their wives.”

RCCG Sunday school materials are also alleged to include the phrase: “Homosexuality is a sin and like any other sin, it needs to be dealt with in the only way possible.

“It needs to be laid at the cross and repented of. Christians should pray for the salvation of the homosexual.”

The RCCG were a part of a number of churches found earlier this year to have received furlough money by investigative website OpenDemocracy.

Human Rights campaigner Peter Tatchell labelled them as part of a number of “homophobic institutions” and condemned them recieving furlough cash.

Conservative opposition leader Nigel Fletcher said: “There has also been a lack of transparency about this particular sale, and serious questions about the suitability of the new owners.

“It would be most upsetting if a public library, donated to educate and enlighten the whole community, should ever be used to perpetuate discrimination and prejudice.”

Social media users were also alarmed, with one user calling the situation “beyond awful”.

There has also been concern over the sale of the library and how the council looks after its “local heritage”.

Mr Fletcher added: “It is rather concerning to see community assets being sold off, especially historic listed buildings such as East Greenwich Library, which was donated for the use of all local people. We sadly have a long history of this Labour Council letting its historic assets fall into disrepair, then arguing it has no choice but to ‘dispose’ of them cheaply.

“This is a real failure of their duty to preserve our local heritage, and shows a lack of imagination. My own view is that we should invest in our historic buildings to bring them back into appropriate use and generate income, instead of just selling them off.”

A Greenwich Council spokesperson said: “The decision to sell the East Greenwich Library was made back in 2007, with money from the sale designated to funding the new Greenwich Centre – a modern combined library and leisure facility. East Greenwich Library remained open until 2015 when the Greenwich Centre was completed to ensure continuity of service provision.  

“It is the council’s responsibility to follow due process to secure the best consideration in its property transactions. The Council publicised its intention to dispose of the property and there were no expressions of interest received from community groups. 

“The church has assured the council in the past that it is not homophobic however, to publicly distance itself from comments made by previous pastors we would welcome it to sign our Equality and Equity Charter what we launched this year, to stand alongside the 95 groups that have already done so.